Dispatch #1, February 23, 2005
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
By Peter Berg
On the day of the sixth anniversary of its Ecological
City Declaration, Bahia de Caraquez flashed bright signals of evolving its
truly own version of urban sustainability. It was eco-semana (ecology
week) with events in vernacular earmarks such as a night-time Carnaval
pregon (parade) with some marchers painted as earth features and animals,
a cleanup of Rio Chone beach, a tour of prominent ecology projects, and a
Baile Verde (Green Dance).
Falling at mid-week in the festivities, the
anniversary started with an exposition by relevant non-government and
private groups in the breezeway substituting for a first floor under City
Hall. Arte Papel (Art Paper), the remarkable womens’ collective that
makes recycled paper stationery and encompasses three separate barrios,
brought ten of its two dozen members to ring tightly around a small table
of its best cards, boxes and albums. Eco-club kids from nearby Fanca
showed painted recycled plastic flowers. Eco-paper also showed up there
and at a table for privately-owned Eco-papel which introduced this
handcrafts industry locally, and on display by a brand new company from La
Cruz barrio who had been unselfishly trained by Arte Papel women.
(Ecuadorians are infamous imitators of successful small-scale enterprises.
There is a town nearby where one person started a roadside stand selling
homemade versions of archeological artifacts several years ago that is now
lined on both sides of the highway with copies. Bahia’s future may
include a reputation as the Eco-paper City!) Planet Drum’s Renee
Portanova and replacement-in-training Heather Crawford exhibited saplings
of native trees with identifying labels, compost made from organic wastes,
and posters showing how revegetation reduces erosion, an explanation and
small model of our new passive solar hot water installation at Genesis
School, and even a definition of “bioregionalismo”. The newish branch
of the UN volunteer-promoting organization Caring Cities boasted the most
polished explanatory display. A standout for me was a simply painted
fifty-five gallon steel drum set-up by the recently minted Eco-amigos
group from Maria Auxiliadora barrio to show examples of their recycling
and compost making efforts. With a membership of younger children from
that neighborhood’s marginally employed households, this wild throng is
the product of Elva, a small all-purpose storeowner who was inspired by
our efforts to build a “wild park”. When I asked how it was funded
Elva made a characteristically frank gesture of slapping her front pocket.
Only a year old, Eco-amigos is increasingly active and even helped clean
up and repair trails in the erosion abating park (named Bosque en Medio de
las Ruinas) for this week’s eco-tour. Perhaps the greatest significance
of Eco-amigos spontaneous occurrence is the undeniable validity it brings
to popular acceptance of the ecological city idea, similar to the
appearance a little over two years ago of Bahia Ecologico, a company of
triciclo (three-wheeler) pedal-taxi drivers who have since been joined by
two more new groups of tricicleros with “eco” in their company
names.
A “Sesion Solemne” to commemorate the anniversary
was held in the Municipal Theater that afternoon. It was typically
full of surprises. To a dais comprising several city council members, the
mayor, the vice-mayor, and the Captain of the Port, and an audience of
about three hundred people including the Queen of Sucre County, Vladir
Villagran recounted the history of founding the eco-city and implored the
new officials to make it a reality. Flor-Maria Duenas followed and
unexpectedly called for me to take a seat on stage with the others before
recounting the successful growth of the Eco-clubs she has helped lead.
Marcelo Luque gave a resounding bioregional description of this unique
equatorial place and next the vice-mayor invoked Bahia’s potential as a
model for the world. Then the new mayor Dr. Carlos Mendosa, who along with
political leaders everywhere recently from Washington State in the US to
Ukraine had survived a close election and vote count challenge, rose to
state the extent of commitment for his administration. As a professional
medical practitioner no one expected great familiarity with environmental
ideas, but he indicated more concern and presented more specific details
than the previous two mayors who served during the Ecological Declaration
era. He shifted easily from Bahia’s problems to those of the world, and
gave evidence of personal interest by referring to the amount of seawater
that could be polluted by a single discarded battery and the decomposition
time for plastic bottles. “It isn’t enough to be ecological in words
alone but in deeds. I will seek to follow through with what we have said
we will do and more,” was the gist. Finally, awards were given to
ecology workers such as those representing an agency that makes compost
and several women from Arte Papel.
During this visit I presented Mayor Mendosa with an
invitation from San Francisco’s mayor to the UN World Environment Day
observance there in June this year with the theme “Green Cities”. He
and Patricio Tamariz, a founder of the Eco-Bahia Center for Environmental
Studies, intend to attend to sign the Urban Sustainability Accords with
mayors from at least a hundred of the largest world cities (see
www.wed2005.org). Planet Drum is hoping to raise the travel costs for both
of them since they wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. They could
attract major attention because although Bahia is rated as a small to
medium size city, it is represents the greatest number of cities in the
world that are in the same category.
The newly elected city council is also the greenest
yet. When I addressed the group with a request to renew the original
declaration by adding a point citing the 2002 Ecological City Plan as a
guide, the members concurred unanimously and several made personal pleas
to further enhance Bahia in ways such as reducing pollution in the river.
Today I assisted Councilwoman Christina Ruperti in drafting the ordinance
to create a Department of the Environment, and also consulted about
revitalizing the county wide recycling program. Environment Week isn’t
just a hopeful event anymore. It has just proven to be a genuinely
productive time, perhaps the most productive seven days so far.
<<<===>>>
Dispatch #2, September 3, 2005
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
By Peter Berg
Planet Drum Foundation's efforts to assist in
transforming Bahia into an ecological city have taken a progressively more
educational bent. We have had a full-time staff member as Bioregional
Educational Program Manager, Kristen Lansdale, for nearly half a year. Her
reports on the progress of the first twenty-five high school age students
have been a continuous revelation of expanding possibilities for
place-located learning. On another front, Riccardo Clemente spent last
winter teaching an adult course in alternative energy, building a
successful passive solar hot water heater for a local grade school with
some of his students, awarding certificates of accomplishment in the name
of Planet Drum, and helping them to develop a company named Bahia Aqua
Caliente Solar. (He returns later this month to write a report on the
installation to earn a graduate degree.)
It seems the right time to initiate a Master of
Bioregional Sustainability Program for graduate students that would last a
full year. Fundamental to this program would be development of sustainable
housing and farming features on a piece of land that required revegetation
and restoration of native habitat. Students can initiate building,
infrastructure, agriculture, revegetation, and research projects for
certification while learning and working with our ecological city
programs. Inexpensive land that had no previously existing structures was
found and purchased earlier this year. The following is an account of the
first exploratory visit.
Up at 6AM Friday (9/2/05) for horseback ride over our
new land. Brought everything I thought was necessary from long-sleeved
shirt and hat to water and sandwiches. Caught bus at terminal for 16
kilometer ride and sat on steps by door to look for dirt road where I'm
supposed to meet guide and horses. Arrived 15 minutes before appointment
at 9 and jumped on horse accompanied by "Lucho," Jacob Santos'
land steward. We rode down the highway a kilometer to Quijije's
(pronounced key-he-hay) farm to get permission to enter his land to take a
trail to ours. Ride was straight up from there 3 kilometers according to
Lucho hanging onto the horse's mane at times to avoid falling off. My
"del campo" mount was extremely responsive and wise about trails
and barbed wire, but not considerate of having a rider three feet above
its back smashing into branches and vines. Also ate everything all the
time which impeded travel. But generally alert and eager in vast contrast
to burros I've ridden here.
The sixty hectares (about 150 acres) of land had
obviously been used to clearcut trees for lumber ten years before. Primary
seboya grass and various bushes mixed with some initial successional trees
such as fruitillo still occupy large tracts. There are exceptions on the
far sides of steep canyons and the tops of hills where patches of what
appears to be original forest remain. The logged areas have become true
jungle which is defined as impassable or nearly impassable growth. We
machete-hacked a good part of the time and lost trails continually.
We weren't able to find any paths that went directly
to the forested places to observe their actual condition. None went
directly across the land either. We attempted to circle the whole property
but only got one-quarter of the way heading north and even less to the
south before running into drop-offs or steep cliffs. Exploring these
places will require days of trail-blazing.
Rather than being the whole bowl that is visible from
the rim, the shape of the property is like a rectangular sheet draped
across the interior. The flag-shaped piece runs up to the rim on the east
and halfway or so to the north, west and south. There is a ridge that
bisects the property to about the center of the bowl, with small rises on
all sides. Although it is mainly clay soil mixed with sand and few if any
rocks there is considerable variety of terrain.
We found and ate green tamarind fruit, saw an
iguana's nest in branches of a guayacan, gathered seeds from four tree
species to plant in greenhouse, and noted at least a dozen plants that
obviously provide good animal feed.
Felt confident at the end of three and half hours
about first horseback ride in years so trotted and galloped back to where
I originally met Lucho, caught a bus to Bahia, and have enjoyed an
exhilarated floating spirit since in spite of sore legs.
To say it's rough territory is an understatement. But
there are extremely positive aspects. Some hardwood trees remain
throughout the cut area. It isn't hotter or more humid in the bowl
than the ridgetops. The coast is nearby so there are breezes and possible
future access. There don't seem to be any permanent non-natural land
deformations or pollution. It is "raw land" of the dry tropical
forest, more tangled than old growth would be but manageable to the extent
that one wishes to manage it. This is perfect for putting sustainable
features in place, revegetating logged areas, and studying changes over
future time.
Securing the land is proving to be a challenge.
Quiije is one of four neighbors and he has begun marking off his border
with recently placed stakes. Since there are no survey documents or even
maps this line may or may not be accurate. (The other neighboring parcels
which will have similar problems.) To establish the borders a survey would
need to be made and this presents more problems. Surveyors won't have a
line of sight through the tangle so a tentative swath of about 2 meters
circling the land would have to be cleared. Siteing this swath would be
only partially informed guesswork. We are obliged to fence the entire
boundary with or without a survey since there is evidence of grazing by
neighboring cows and some border will have to be established.
For this work to start while I'm here, I'll have to
try to visit neighboring landowners and attempt to understand what they
believe is the correct line. They are likely to be absentee so I'll have
to visit their land steward tenants as well. It's going to be difficult to
accomplish in two weeks before I leave, but needs to be finished if we
intend to get any fencing work done before the rainy season begins roughly
four months from now.
<<<===>>>
Dispatch #3, September 5, 2005
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
By Peter Berg
Yesterday (Sun.) was a breakthrough for our revegetation project.
Pedro Otero, who although an agro-forestry professor previously seemed
reluctant to permit non-commercial planting on his land, finally agreed to
let us explore El Toro Basin for any sites where we wish to plant native
trees. The problem with Otero had been that the land wasn't formally
divided between five brothers who were heirs. Some of them have recently
begun logging to Pedro's genuine horror and he is now insisting on
divisions to be able to control at least his share.
El Toro Creek is one of the principal erosion sources in the six kilometer
stretch we are addressing. The basin has no less than five streams
emptying into a steep-sided, short, narrow area. With recent decades of
logging the slopes and clearing pasture has come ruinous erosion along all
of the entry streams and truly devastating damage to the main El Toro
Creek. The banks have been gouged into perpendicular walls ten meters (30
feet) or more high. The fifteen meter (45 feet) wide stream bed where
there is only a trickle if any water at this time of year is reminiscent
of the desert terrain in North Africa, a main corridor of high bare clay
cliffs with hallways of canyons entering at knife-edge straight angles.
All of these ninety degree surfaces will erode away, slowly with luck but
in a flash if a heavy El Nino rainy period occurs. The problem for
revegetation is what extent can be saved. If allowed to recede to the
eventual angle of repose where gravity would finally cease allowing rain
to carry soil away, the amount of eventual erosion would be millions of
tons. If the banks can be held at a closer point to the edge the amount of
soil lost might be reduced to about one-third of that enormous amount.
Considering the disastrous consequences of massive erosion from this area
for natural habitat, the town below, the highway, or most importantly,
siltation of the rapidly filling Rio Chone river, eliminating two-thirds
of the potential infill isn't just a nice idea, it's essential for keeping
the river alive and flowing in the future.
Pedro generously drove Heather and me through most of the extent of the
stream bed, showed some recent and previous logging damage, and encouraged
us to pick our own spot. Because of El Toro's significance we will
definitely establish a revegetation presence but have to be careful about
choosing places where we can successfully demonstrate the effectiveness of
various approaches and techniques. I begged off from making a decision on
specific spots until we can survey the worst places later this week.
Fast-growing and strong algorrobo trees will work well here. Among the
other saplings we'll have available next winter rainy season, Otero stated
a preference for samango and cedro, and we will oblige with those as well.
El Toro Basin is the most remote but also the most significant site we
will encounter.
<<<===>>>
Dispatch #4, September 7, 2005
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
By Peter Berg
When I met a journalist on the street who told me she was now
working at a pharmacy I didn't immediately register what a contrast that
was. It wasn't surprising then because people in Bahia change jobs fairly
frequently. I walked on thinking that her upbeat personality was suited to
either position. Later I thought more deeply about how often they seem to
switch and the wide range of jobs undertaken and sought out some people
who seemed symbolic of these tendencies. Would they tell me all of the
things they had done and can do, and did they have opinions about why this
situation is prevalent?
Jairo Intraigo is thirty-one and comes from a typically close-knit
Ecuadorian family but goes a little further than most. He has supported
his sister's two children for sixteen years since their father dropped out
of the picture. They are in high school now with monthly fees and bills
that consume about half of his present monthly income. Starting with
cleaning up a carpentry shop on weekends when he was in high school
himself, here's the surprising list of what he's done so far.
Still in high school he worked a summer on a project funded through a
coastal agency by Rhode Island University to study geomorphology of the
beach. It involved measuring the height of sand dunes each month.
A preference for being outside and observing natural features led to his
next job over several years leading visitors for an eco-tour company to
see mangroves, bird sanctuaries, and other sites in Rio Chone estuary. He
also learned to make recycled paper and fashion it into stationery for the
company. (Sometime after leaving this job he taught a group of unemployed
women those recycling skills and they formed a successful cooperative.)
Facility at relating to strangers evolved into the assistant manager
position at a hotel that catered to backpackers and other low-budget
visitors. He redesigned the rooms, redecorated them, and worked out
cooking and cleaning schedules. At night he bussed thirty miles away to
night university classes to study business administration. Some part-time
jobs at the same time included working as a guide in a national park and a
seafood chef at a resort.. He also volunteered for the local ecology
studies group, and as a high school girls cheerleading coach won the city
championship.
After graduation he became an assistant professor at a local university
teaching business administration, finance, and
marketing as well as rudimentary English. He just began as a chef working
every night at a new restaurant, while still living rent-free at the hotel
in exchange for consulting with the staff.
Jairo thinks the country's poor economy is responsible for job insecurity,
and this in turns breeds versatility. Most of his friends have two or
three jobs as well. It is a point of pride that he has been able to work
at things he enjoys. If he lost all of his present occupations he feels he
could make a living doing several other things for which he's never
received a salary: designing (clothes, furniture, graphics), and teaching
hotel and restaurant skills. What he would like is that ten years from now
as a full professor he receives grateful congratulations from former
students who became the country's leaders and provide a lot of jobs for
today's underemployed.
<<<===>>>
